Mass Effect: Relays
by Norma Bellini
Summary: A couple of years have passed since the reapers were defeated. Shepard and Garrus were living a quiet life, untill an urgent matter arises: bringing back the relays and fighting cerberus all over again- rallying racist humans against stranded aliens on earth.


Mass effect: Relays

(set after mass effect 3, Shepard lives, reapers die- mass relays are gone and lots of aliens are stranded on earth)

It had been a year after the defeat of the reapers, and it felt like it had been just the day before every time she woke up and felt the lingering pain in her wrists- reminisce of the crucible debris that killed the reapers and nearly killed her too.

Garrus was up already, and she could feel the smell of breakfast across the loft: eggs and jam? She loved that he tried, he did his best trying to understand levo food. His breakfast came from a can, like every turian's food on earth now, and he really missed cooking. Too bad he didn´t like translating cook books and she wasn't a very good cook herself. She sighed, picked up her N7 robe and walked down the stairs: yet another day of retirement.

She missed the fights, the soft humming of the Normandy, EDI's voice telling her she was needed somewhere, Garrus telling her about his calibrations. Civil life was stranding on her nerves; there was still a lot do on earth, but it was mostly politics and she hated that even more than a whole day of doing nothing. Salarians, turians, asari and krogan sharing earth with humans? They were a long way from being pacific yet, not that they weren't trying. Humans had being racist within their own kind, and now that they saw themselves unespectantly sharing their world with a whole bunch of guys who looked absolutely nothing like them… hell, it was hard on them. It was nothing like the citadel, because the citadel "was nobody's" and earth "was theirs"; she couldn't understand why people (all, not just humans) were so damn stupid. Sometimes she wondered if it had been better if she had let the rippers wipe the universe. Then she thought about Garrus, saving the world was worth it if she got to be with him- so she smiled and hugged him from behind. He was opening up his can of "real sarvar stew"- whatever that was- and groaned a little bit in pleasure.

Your breakfast is served- he said- I hope you like my new invention, I made sure to calibrate it perfectly- he said as he winked an eye.

I don't doubt it ,Garrus- she said smiling to him- it smells… different.- She took a forkful, Garrus looked at her expectantly with a wide smile; it was surprisingly delicious, so she digged in eagerly.

I'm glad you liked it- he said, kissing her forehead.

It tastes like pancakes, only softer- she said, licking her lips.

I hope that's a good thing- he said, smelling and wrinkling his nose upon the smell of his own food- because as far as my "real" sarvar stew, spirits! it tastes nothing like the real stuff.

The salarian and asari scientists are working on synthesising real dextro food on earth- she said

Damn it, if we could defeat the rippers one would think we could be able to make real food- he said, laughing.- I reaaaally hope they succed, a man can only take so much fake canned food, hell, I feel like a pet.

My turian pet- she joked, caressing his fringe playfully.

"Scientists all over the galaxy are trying to bring back the mass relays" said a man on TV. Garrus was calibrating an old gun next to the bed while Shepard passed her attention from a book to the tv, to him. She wondered how much he missed Palaven, his family back there. Vidcom and extranet were still functional all across the galaxy, and it was hard to believe they were so close and so far. She had no one outside earth right now- Liara,James, Joker, Edi and even Jarvis were still around: them, and Garrus, were her only family. When he saw him like that, lost in calibrations, she couldn't help but worry about him. She never knew what it was like to have a family, until the Normandy- and she couldn't start to imagine what it would be like if she lost them like that. Se fiddled with her fingers, lost in thought.

Fixing the mass relays could take decades, even centuries- they might not be around to see the day, Garrus might never be able to hug his father again, to see his sister and his baby nephews- Solana had gotten married and had a set of twins since he last saw her in person. She once caught him crying over a picture of them, he shoved it away saying earth's atmosphere was too light for him sometimes and that made his eyes water.

The personal message central biped- it was Liara. Shepard got up of the bed to read the message. She said she had news, and she was coming for lunch; at least making lunch would keep Garrus occupied for a while, he really enjoyed hosting food gatherings. And the company of good friends- family- would be really nice.

She tried to help Garrus with lunch, but she was a mess with knifes and he would laugh at her all the time, just Garrus being Garrus. She finally gave up, and just sat there with a glass of wine, enjoying the view and joking back and forward with him.

The intercom chirped- she liked that tacky bird ringtone, no idea why- announcing the arrival of Liara. She was a little early, but that was so like Liara- maybe she had been out there for a while, waiting for it to be appropriate to ring the intercom and announce herself.

She jumped when she saw not only Liara, but Javis next to her. The prothean looked unconfortable, shifting his weight to one side and another; he finally said "Maybe you should let us in, or is it another human thing I don't understand?"- he wasn't joking, Jarvis never did, but she laughed anyways. "What is this, Liara?" she asked her lowering her voice, amused. Asari couldn't blush, but she was pretty sure she would have right in that moment.

This will be a hell of a lunch, she thought, smiling. Garrus was happy he miscalculated portions- he allways counted himself in, even thou he had to eat from a can every time.

"I'd bet my arms and legs your news have to do something with Jarvis"- she said, as they sat at the table.

"I don't understand why our engagement has to be a secret, they above anyone would understand interspecies…"- Jarvis said, Shepard interrupted

"What!"- she was laughing really hard, and she nearly chocked with her wine. Garrus was laughing just as hard, interjecting "spirits!" inbetween.

"I guess the prothean here just spoiled the surprise, Liara" Said Garrus, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I don't see the point of surprises" said Jarvis, his expression as calmed as allways "not efficient; protheans are not used to them anyways, we have no secrets"

"Well, I guess that covers plenty of it" said Liara, she seemed embarrassed. Garrus poured her some wine

"Everyone, drink for me please" he said, still laughing- "Human wine churns my insides, I can't take much"

"It's a hell of a surprise" said Shepard, serving everyone the stuff Garrus had invented- chicken and lemon jelly with a side of sweet peas and mayo? Just when she thought she would be used to his weird experiments.

"It seemed only natural" said Jarvis, poking the jelly with his fork "Asari can absorb any species DNA, and are the most advanced species in the galaxy" Garrus chocked on his … whatever that was, and stood up to get himself some water.

"How romantic" said Shepard, smiling.

"We do share romantic feelings" said Liara, looking at Jarvis "as romantic as a prothean can get at least" she said laughing, Jarvis seemed slightly amused.

"You O.K there Garrus?" called Shepard; he was taking long with that glass of water.

"Fine, anyone wants some dessert?" he said

"I thought you mixed dissert and main course" she said, laughing.

"I knew something was off with this chicken" said Liara "I'm not quite used to human cuisine, but this is unlike anything I've ever had so far"

"Hey, I heared that!" said Garrus; he came in with a pie of some sort. Nothing she'd ever seen before either.

He started moving the dishes to the kitchen, even thou nobody had finished yet. He was a little off, she wondered what was going on behind his visor. She tried to put some pressure off him, cutting and serving the pie. It had some peaches and red peppers in it- oh, Garrus- she thought. It seems he thought it looked nice, because it surely did, great colours.

Liara starting talking about marriage related things with Shepard, she thought it would be nice to hold it at the asari temple. Garrus snatched Jarvis away, to show him his latest calibrated guns.

"I think something's up with Garrus" Said Liara " is he uncomfortable by our presence? Did any of us said anything to make him uneasy? I did my best to eat what he cooked, as usual"

"He's being a little off lately" said Shepard "I think he misses Palaven, his family; sometimes vidcom is not enough I guess"

"Maybe us talking about starting a family made him remember about them" she said. "We are doing everything we can to bring back the mass relays, but some scientists are reticent"

"I know, I heard that in the morning" said Shepard "Maybe they need someone to kick their asses into it"

"Just like in the old days" said Liara "Sometimes I miss the figths, even thou I'm more of a researcher; it must be really hard on you, retirement".

"It's not like we need an N7 anymore, or spectres" she said, shrugging "at least it's what they said- along with "you've done more than enough for the galaxy, you've earned your relaxing times"; I call bullshit, they are just not comfortable with me around, being a legend and all that" she said, laughing. "I'm in great shape, ready to kick some ass; retirement is a bitch"

"I hear you" said Liara "Now that digging for prothean data is no longer needed, I find myself a little uneasy, I miss that; finding out about the mass relays keeps me sane now, as well as my shadow broker gig"

"If it weren't for Garrus, I'd be going crazy" said Shepard "Can you see if I can do something? Is there something I can help with in that mass relay stuff? My body is itching form some action, I bet Garrus would love to go back to action too; we go visit the Normandy once in a while, it's starting to gather spiderwebs- it's really sad"

"I think there might be something, actually" Said Liara, her hands in her chin "I'm still looking onto it… but there's a possibility"

"Spit it T'soni" she said, her eyes glowing with emotion.

"I can't right now, but I'll get to you tomorrow" said Liara

"Why do you have to read everything you touch!" complained Garrus, walking down the stairs, an amused grin on his face.

"Why do you leave dirty clothes on the floor anyways?" said Jarvis, not a joking syllable coming from those words.

"I'm not going to ask" said Shepard, embarrassed.

"Hahaha, no, you don't want to" said Garrus. "I think I'll be the first turian in history to blush"

"Jarvis, remember that reading random things is not socially acceptable in this cycle" said Liara "specially telling people about them; I'm sorry guys" she said grabbing Jarvis by the shoulder. "We have to get going anyways; I'll talk to you tomorrow Shep"

While they were picking up the dishes and putting them inside the dishwasher- what a mundane thing, tough Shepard doing the dishes with the same hands that once held the fate of a whole galaxy- she mentioned what Liara said about them helping with the mass relay thing. Garrus groaned in surprise, he was happy.

They talked about what it could be, maybe flying somewhere within the Sol system to dig some blueprints? Fighting an unknown force keeping the mass relay's secrets? They were in a bliss cloud, if that is what you could call a mess of a bed. They tangled pink flesh and grey scales while they joked and talked about what future adventures were awaiting out there. They fell asleep, exhausted and happy, only to wake up and make an even bigger mess of the bed and fall asleep again right into the next day.

Liara called, as promised. Shepard and Garrus were in the garden, shooting some blanks when they heard the beeping of the vidcom. They rushed to it, guns still in hand, and answered her together.

Liara jumped at the sight of guns.

"Is everything ok?" she asked

"We were just shooting some blanks, we keep in shape" said Shepard

"Some of us do" said Garrus laughing "Others just try"

"Damn you, Garrus" said Shepard, jolly.

"As I promised, I've got something for you" said Liara "It's highly classified, I came across it as the shadow broker, so I had to make sure it was reliable before I could say anything further"

"Get to the point T'soni" said Shepard, grinning.

"I've got word that a crew of Salarian scientists went lost in Jupiter, looking for a clue on the mass relays" said Liara "Supposedly, there are clues hidden all over the galaxy, in every system; everyone from Asari to Krogan are looking for clues in their sistems. Here on Sol, things are a little messier because no one seems to be getting along"

"One would think all species would get used to collaborating with one another after the reaper war" Said Garrus "I guess the universe found its disorder again"

"I talked to the council" said Liara "They seem to think the order is you, Shepard; you brought all of us together once, you can do it again"

"That's flattering" said Shepard, laughing it off.

"They want to see you, can you make it to the capital?" said Liara

"We might need a shuttle, if we want to get there fast" said Garrus

"I'll send someone" said Liara "Pack light; I'll see you there"

When the communication was over, they looked at each other: back to business.

When the shuttle arrived, Garrus was still in the armory of the loft, thinking what guns he should leave behind but unable to decide: he wanted to bring them all.

"Just bring the best calibrated one!" yelled Shepard from downstairs

"Everyone is well calibrated!" said Garrus, popping his head out to the inside balcony.

"C'mon, we don't have much time" said the pilot "the council doesn't wait, not even commander Shepard"

He finally came downstairs, with his old black widow attached to his shoulder. Shepard smiled at him, and held his free hand.

"Ready Garrus?"

"Kidding? I'm right behind you" Said Garrus, smiling.

The Capital was earth's version of the citadel; a lot going on, even c-sec guys guarding the streets.

"Feels like home" said Garrus.

"Hell, it does" replied Shepard.

"Commander Shepard" Said a voice she recognized

"James?" she was surprised to see him there "I thought you retired to the Bahamas; it's nice to see you thou"

"A quiet life is not a life for me; it turns out I was going crazy: too many coconut trees and sand in my sandals" said Vega. "And mosquitoes; boy, I prefer husks to mosquitoes anytime" he said, laughing.

"Too bad you don't have a turian's hard skin" said Garrus, tapping his chest.

"The council is about to begin, let's move" said Liara; she came out of nowhere, running to us.

A room made of tall glass and floating greenery opened after them; the sunlight was bathing every corner in a golden shade, with the occasional rainbow due to intricate carvings in the glass.

"Impressive" gasped Shepard "They managed to get even more pompous"

A floating platform surfaced from the floor: An Asari, a Salarian, a Human, a Turian… and a Krogan? That was new. She'd forgotten the Krogan were now part of the council, female Krogan to be precise. Female Krogan were now the rulers of tuchanka and somehow a couple of them managed to be on earth, a miracle.

She didn't know any of the counsellors, the ones they knew were either dead or retired after the war. Not that she particularly liked any of them, she hated politicians.

There were counsellors in every system, and they were all on vidcom, full video conference. Great- thought Shepard- just great.

Garrus was fiddling with his visor.

"The asari is counsellor Lipicer, the Salarian is counsellor Barduk, the human is counsellor Patel, the Krogan is counsellor Malon, Rodena." Garrus whispered in her ear "I don't get why people don't wear visors all the time, they are so useful"

"Thanks Garrus" she whispered back.

"The subject today is the reinstatement of Commander Shepard into active duty" said counsellor Patel. "As both an N7 commander and a Spectre"

Boring, thought Shepard. They could've just done it, instead they had to talk about it for an hour, while she was standing in the middle of the room. Just great, she thought again: damned politicians would talk her to death. She kept her cool during the debate, the biggest concern being her psychological state "she might not be fit to go back to duty"…yeah, right. If anything, she felt better than ever: no nightmares, and a life too tranquil for her own satisfaction. That occasional pain in the wrists was all that was left from that day in her mind. She really needed to go back in track.

Then it was Liara's turn on the speaking spot. She made a good point stating that she was very much needed, and her mind was very well, thank you very much. Of course, she used fancier words, but that would resume it- thought Shepard. Garrus waved her from his chair, she winked at him.

Liara asked to empty the room, to talk about confidential evidence with the council- shadow broker stuff, thought Shepard as she moved outside. Her legs were numbed by all that standing up in the middle of the room, she was happy to see she could still walk- or at least try to. Garrus offered to carry her, but hell, nobody carries Commander Shepard – at least not in public. He grabbed her by the waist.

"Your hips are very supportive, but I think you might need a little help here" joked Garrus.

Actually, his arms support around her waist helped her keep her balance while walking after all that standing up. She wouldn't admit it out loud thou.

They sat down at a café, and the waitress brought her a coffee- on the house, one of the perks of saving the world- and a piece of cake. Garrus got yet another canned meal, for free as well.

Around them, the eclectic architecture rose above the ruins of the city: asari elegant curved buildings next to dry and functional turian architecture, colourful and harmonious human architecture next to the mismatched crap that was krogan architecture. Shepard sipped her coffee, it was really hot and it burned her tongue. Garrus grabbed her hand, and stared into her eyes, making her a little nervous- hell, those butterflies in her stomach never went away.

"Shep" he said; she lowered down her cup of coffee. He grabbed her other hand.

"Officer Vakarian?" she always said that when she wanted to lighten the mood. He grinned, and let go of one of her hands to reach something in his pocket.

"I… I read that this is customary" he said, apologizing beforehand as he always did when he thought he would do something wrong. "If you don't like it, I understand, I can get something else" Shepard kissed him to shut him up, and make him feel at ease; she smiled at him widely.

He took a little velvety box out of his pocket. There was a beautiful and simple silver ring with a bluish transparent and shiny stone in it.

"Turians give a drop of their blood inside a little mass effect field in this cases" he said "but humans find that creepy, I think"

"Is this what I think it is?" she wanted him to say it, he couldn't get away with it.

"Will you marry me, Shepard?" he said; she would have sweared she saw him blush, but was it possible?

"Are you kidding?" she said lifting one of her eyebrows, joking "Of course I will" Garrus took a deep breath and started laughing

"For a moment I thought you wouldn't, spirits Shepard" he said, putting the ring on her finger, smiling. "Just so you know… there is blood inside that stone" She looked at him, perplexed. "turns out you can make diamonds out of blood, go figure" he said, grinning.

"Gross" said Shepard, laughing. "I love it Garrus; I love you. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, remember?"

"There's also the matter of the matching face tattoos, but we'll get to that later" he said, bumping her in the arm. "And will it be Commander Vakarian then?"

"Hell no" she said "you're so dead, Vakarian"

"An ex turian vigilante can dream" he said.

The V.I next to them announced they could come back to the counsellors. She hoped they had reached a consensus, standing for another hour wouldn't be funny at all. Besides, she wanted to go out and celebrate with her favourite turian- or maybe stay in and celebrate.

Liara was at the door, smiling. Good news, apparently. She had to stand there for only twenty minutes, thank god- she thought. By the time she was out, she was fully reinstated again- there was a lot to celebrate, and hell she was going to.

The three of them went out to a bar in the Capital, "The Paradox". It was runned by asari, like most bars and pubs, and served by humans.

Upbeat music, shots, dancing stupidly- all she needed. Liara went home early, because she had work to do- and so did she and Garrus in the morning, but they would figure it out. They stayed and talked until the bar closed, then went to the hotel and "partied" until dawn. They had to be at the docks by eight, to board the Normandy: that left them about three hours to sleep.

She woke up hungover, hell, she wasn't so young anymore. Garrus made sure to only drink dextro all night, even thou those drinks were nothing like the real thing and tasted like dirty socks- so he was OK. Turians and their resistance, be damned- she thought. Garrus called breakfast up, and run the shower for her. She could barely walk, so he carried her to the bathroom, mocking her resistance as he undressed her and put her inside the tub. He rubbed her thoroughly, washed her hair- was that vomit? Oh, hell, she was in bad shape. What would she do without him? Wait- she thought- indirectly that was all his fault; she laughed alone, and Garrus joined. He dried her, and went to the cabinet for a hangover pill for her. After a while she was feeling better, and could even eat her breakfast. Garrus went into the shower, and joined her with his canned hotel food.

"I hope you don't vomit all over the place while we fly to the docks" he joked.

"Fuck you, Garrus" she said, laughing.

"Oh, you did- several times" he said, jokingly. Shepard shoved a whole pancake into her mouth.

"Smartass" she mumbled.

The Normandy was waiting, docked and clean. She felt so happy she forgot her hangover and run inside the ship. Garrus was left behind with all their luggage.

"Commander Shepard, welcome back" that was Edi's voice; welcome home Shepard, she told herself.

"Hello Edi" she said, "Who else is on board?"

"Joker, James, Cortez, Traynor, " said Edi. "They are waiting for you at the mess hall, as well as my physical presence"

"Thanks Edi" said Shepard, stretching. "Garrus?" she called

"Right here, behind the luggage" he said.

"Leave that" she said, and took his hand "Let's go meet with the crew; they´re waiting for us at the mess hall, and I think we owe them some news"

No one was really surprised, and they were happy for them. Of course there were jokes about it; James said the world wasn't prepared for human-turian babies, and it might never be- in his words "that would make a hell of an ugly baby, no offense Lola". Edi replied that "a human turian baby would be biologically improbable", and so the conversation diverted to the asari, and then to Liara and Javis. Garrus suddenly disappeared into his calibrating headquarters.

As soon as Anderson, Liara and Javik came into the Normandy they were on their way to Jupiter. No one had ever been to Jupiter, it was one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy. Shepard was at her quarters, staring at the fishtank, listening to the hum of the ship. She thought about calling Garrus through intercom, but he was probably busy calibrating- the Normandy's guns had been out of use for too long. She'd wait until dinner, she'd arrange for their meals to be brought up there. She thought it would be better if she slept her hangover off, so she turned off the lights and cozied up under the covers.

Edi woke her up when she brought dinner for her and Garrus. She didn't usually did that kind of thing, so maybe there was something she needed to discuss. And there was.

"I noticed Garrus felt offended with my comments on human turian breeding" she said "Should I explain to him that improbable is not the same as impossible?" oh, my- thought Shepard. How had she missed that? She wasn't very good at reading human feelings, let alone turian, but she should've noticed- he was her mate, after all, and her best friend.

"You seem upset, commander" Said Edi. "Was I untimely?"

"It's OK Edi" she said. "I'll talk to Garrus. How long until we get to Jupiter?"

"Three days, 2 hours approximately" said Edi.

"Thank you Edi" she said "Now go back to Joker, I bet he misses you already"

"Commander" she said, and left the room. She couldn't believe Edi was still alive, after she chose to destroy all non-organic life; apparently she was more alive than she thought.

She called Garrus on the intercom, and prompted him to come up for dinner. He was there in a minute, all covered in metal dust from those calibrations. She jumped off the bed and kissed him, then hugged him hard.

"I assume I did something right?" he said, cocky. "I don't mind another kiss"

She smiled at him, and held his hands, just like he did back in the Capital.

"Your food will get cold" said Shepard "you don't want it to taste any worse than it already is" Garrus laughed and sat down to take it. Shepard ate her hamburger slowly, thinking how to discuss the baby thing with him; then it hit her.

"Remember the day we took down the reapers?" she said.

"Ehm, it's a blur, who saved the world that day? I can't remember" He joked "Of course I do, every single detail since we set foot in London, why?"

"Remember how we talked about having babies?" she laughed "it seemed funny at the time"

"Everyone says it can't be done" he sighed "our DNAs are too different, how would a dextro baby hold inside a levo body?"

"Edi said it might be done" Said Shepard, more serious now. "I think we should try, you know… maybe look for help? Salarians are experts on evolution and cross species enhancements; and look at the reapers, didn't they mix Krogan and Turian DNA to make brutes?"

"True" said Garrus. "But everyone is too busy looking for a way to rebuild the mass relays, even us" he laughed.

"I'm Commander Shepard, I think they owe me at least that" said Shepard, shrugging.

"But it wouldn't hurt to practice the old way, just in case, would it?" Garrus was already lifting her from her seat and over the bed. Lights shifted to a lower glow and soft music started to play.

"Edi, some privacy please?" said Shepard.

"Sorry, just trying to help" said Edi's metallic voice.

The next morning Shepard went to visit Liara in her quarters, to discuss babies. Commander Shepard discussing babies, now this is an "end of the world" kind of thing, she thought. But she was planning all of that with Garrus, and it only seemed right.

Liara was really enthusiastic, she even offered to help- she knew a couple of asari scientists who were working on understanding how asari absorb the genes of their mates. Maybe that would be useful to them. Or maybe a bunch of other things she talked about and she couldn't really understand- hell, Liara talked too much. At least there was hope, and Garrus was now really happy; he walked around the Normandy talking to anyone who would hear him, he even went to the shuttle cargo and wrestled a little with James- and congratulated him on finally being an N7- then, they bonded over James' abuela recipes- that made Shepard feel a lot better: no more weird experiments from Garrus, and "huevos rancheros" for breakfast.

When they finally made it to Jupiter, it already felt like the old days. She had tried her armour about five times since the departure, and checked her guns all the time. Part of her was waiting to face Cerberus or some husks down there, but that was very unlikely. Very, she repeated to herself. She, Garrus and Liara got off in a shuttle, to search the last known location of the scientists.

Jupiter was really windy, and cold- also, unbreathable. It was hell, worse than facing a reaper. Well, maybe not, but still- she thought. The shuttle was well equipped and well built, they were safe, she kept repeating herself. Cortez was top notch. Hell, she couldn't see anything out there, just dust and toxic chemical clouds- she was nervous, but she wasn't showing it.

They got out of the shuttle, after they landed in the campsite. The containers were covered in dust. Liara built a barrier around them: that took care of the dust obstructing their view.

Shepard over ridded the door of the main container, and they were in. In a minute, they found themselves in a pressurized and oxygenated ambient. Liara started checking the computers immediately, looking for any useful information; Garrus walked to the next container- attached by a corridor- and noticed all the guns were in place, as were the pressurised suits. That wasn't good, thought Shepard; Liara noticed all communications were in order, so if the scientists were around, they could've make contact- but they didn't. She knew they were bound to find corpses- no matter how many times she encounter them, it never got any easier.

She talked the possibility with them, sometimes people went crazy if they spent too much time in isolation and killed each other -or themselves. They braced themselves for a nasty surprise as they entered the crew quarters container; the smell of dead confirmed her suspicions. Garrus went first, to check- not that she needed him to protect her from that, but she stood frozen and he had no choice.

"You have to see this" Garrus was agitated. She imagined dead husks or some other gruesome scene.

The five salarians were laying in a row, their eyes blinded. Garrus moved one of them with the tip of his riffle.

"They were executed" he said. "Their eyes blinded, hands tied behind their backs, single shot to the back of the head" he sighed "I saw this a lot on Omega; rival packs and drug dealers were very keen on this kind of, ehm, justice"

"Who could have done this?" Said Shepard; she kneeled to examine them a little closer- dead salarians smelled like rotten fish, and she gagged.

"I came across some information" said Liara, checking her omnitool. "The salarians received threats from an anonymous source; I did some cross referencing of data, and came down with this" she showed them a map of Sol.

"Earth?" said Shepard

"The Capital, to be precise" she said.

"What else do you know?" asked Shepard "I know you know something else, spill it broker"

"I wasn't sure, but now it seems like I do know something" she said – Garrus interrupted her

"Maybe we could talk somewhere less… stinky? All due respect to them, but hell, I need some fresh air"

"Let's go back to the Normandy- Liara, make sure you got all the info from their files, I don't want to come back here" said Shepard.

"Edi" called Liara, using her omnitool "please gather all the information you can find, I'll grant you access to the base computers"

"On it" said Edi "Done, I'll send it to Glyph"

Liara shared her information at the war room. All the crew- except Joker who was busy piloting the ship- was there.

"An extremist pro-human group on earth has been threatening other species" said Liara "At first, they were isolated and relatively harmless –graffiti on the walls harmless. Now they are getting harsher, since the efforts of retrieving the mass relays went public." Everyone was looking disgusted.

"But how did they get here?" asked Shepard "We could hardly make it to Jupiter, and we are really well funded, and trained"

"I think they got powerful sponsors, my guess: ex Cerberus people" said Liara "I'm working on gathering that information, but they are well under the radar"

"Of course it had to be Cerberus, we never get to get a break, do we?" said Garrus

"The turian is right" said Javik "a fighter's fight can never end: life is a fight"

"So we kick their asses again" Said James, punching the table "Let them come here: I'm ready for them"

They stationed themselves near one of Jupiter's moons, while Liara and Edi worked on finding out a little more. Shepard vidcommed to the council- they were not that surprised. They told her to go back to earth immediately, double speed- she had to find those bastards.

Joker made it to earth in a day- the Normandy wasn't at her full capacity, not since the crush, but it was a lot better than those two days it took them to get to Jupiter in the first place. Edi had found a couple of hacks and the ship was on overclock.

Shepard thanked she didn't have to meet with the council, they accepted talking to Liara first. She decided to stay in the Normandy, with Garrus in her cabin- Edi sweared she would only bother her if really necessary. They laid over the bed, cuddling and holding hands, sharing their worries about that new old enemy. Why did they even bother saving them all? It seemed the collectors were right, and the cycle was doomed anyways. People liked killing each other and they found new reasons to do so.

Edi finally interrupted, it was bound to happen. She needed them both at the war room, Liara had bad news- are there any other kind? Shepard said to herself.

"Word came out that you and Garrus are engaged" Said Liara, she was very serius

"Why does the council care about my personal life now?" Shepard was a little taken aback

"It has more to do with this" Said Liara, handing them a magazine pad

"Wow, that's a bad picture of me" Said Garrus "I'm a lot taller, and you can't really see my scars in that one"

"Great, now we are the subject of the paparazzi?" Shepard looked amused as she flickered through the pages. "Hey, do I look like that from behind?" she smirked.

"Now take a look at these" said Liara, taking a much less glamorous pad. It was a sensationalist paper, the kind where they said the genophage cure was a lie and baby krogan were being born with disabilities.

"Abomination: no to human-alien interspecies relationships" Garrus read it aloud. "Well, now this isn't very nice"

"The paper is funded by human extremist Alan Day" Said Liara, checking her omnitool "He had Cerberus connections, he was one of the ones who funded the illusive man's initiative"

"So let's find this son of a bitch and kick his ass, I'm all in" said james.

"It's not that easy" said Liara " He's in hiding, and he's not the only one: he's the one I _could_ find; also, freedom of speech" she turned off her omnitool. "The council is worried, because people are turning against you Shepard; this lunatics are saying aliens are taking human jobs, that they are ruining earth and bringing abominations"

"Damn" said Shepard "Why can't they just thank us and go back to living peacefully? Like in the first year, everyone hugging and all that" she sighed.

"Now that there are no synthetics to hate on, no reapers… they started turning into each other." Said Javik "Humans are worse than the krogan, I've been doing research on them- I wouldn't blame the reapers for wanting to wipe them away" he looked at Shepard "No offense"

"Non taken" she said "I've been starting to think that too"

"So, what do we do?" Said Joker from the intercom

"We have to keep looking for clues to rebuild the mass relays" said Liara "And shut those extremists before they do any more damage, they are not only sabotaging scientists operations- like they did with the salarians- they are stirring things here on earth and people are listening" she put her fist against the table. Then she composed herself again. "That's what the council wants, Shepard; they'd like to talk to you later on vidcom too"

"I'll talk to them right now" said shepard, her voice low and raspy. Now this was personal.

She walked fast straight to the vidcom room, she was angry at everyone: they didn't deserve saving again. This time she was doing it for her, for Garrus: no one told her what or who to do, she was damn commander Shepard after all, fucking saviour of the galaxy and they owed her. She knew what they might suggest, and she was not ending it with Garrus for the sake of their gilded asses; she almost lost him that last time with the reapers, but she found the strength in herself to survive, for him: he ordered not to die, and she just couldn't afford to.

"Say what you have to say" she said as soon as they were in "No shitting around, and then I'll tell you what I choose to do" the councelors looked abashed, they weren't used to people talking to them like that- but she wasn't "people", she was commander Shepard. They said what Liara had just told her, and then what she thought they would suggest.

"Ending it with Garrus is out of the question, and I will not bargain" she said "If you want my help, it will be under my conditions: I'm done helping and getting nothing in return, it used to be ok, but now I've got a life- a family- to worry about. My own happiness, and I'm done putting everyone before myself: not anymore." She said, tears in her eyes. The councelors were looking surprised, and were speechless for a moment.

"Then make a strong statement" Said the Asari; the others looked at her, intrigued "Maybe this could work for everyone: if you step out, list yourself as Garrus' mate in a very public way… you could be the voice of the resistance"

"A bold move" Said the salarian "Might work" The others nodded in agreement.

Shepard didn't know what to say.

"We'll have to work with big magazines, televise it around the galaxy, make a big event out of it" said the Asari "We have to make sure to advertise it well, like those extremists are doing it- make sure everyone knows the council is against hatred and is pro species cooperation in every way"

"I can officiate the ceremony, if it's OK with you" said the Turian. Shepard thought Garrus might like that, and so would she- she didn't like human marriage customs, specially that white dress thing. Besides, turian joining ceremonies had that face tattoo part… and she actually was thinking about getting them.

"I'll have to talk to Garrus about it" said Shepard "This cannot be taken lightly, we are a team. I'll get to you later, Shepard out."

She stood there for a while, processing. She didn't like the part where they wanted to make a big fuzz about the "joining"- she was calling it that now- she hoped to have the ceremony at the Normandy, with the crew and Garrus' family on vidcom. She had the feeling that Garrus might not like it either; mostly, she didn't want him to think she was being pressured into it by them, she did really want to be his long-life mate.

"Edi, not a word to the crew until I talk to Garrus" said Shepard.

She checked her omnitool, Garrus was at the main battery- probably calibrating. She went there, this time walking slowly, thinking how to say what she had to say.

"So, how did it go?" asked Garrus; he left his calibrations aside, she had his full attention.

"Better than I hoped" she said, half smiling. Garrus touched her face, then kissed her on the forehead. "They suggested something, I wanted to talk about it with you" she leaned on his calibrating station.

"Sounds serious" he said

"It is" she said. "They suggested we joined as soon as we can, and… you know, with a lot of fuzz, big event" he flinched his mandibles "I don't like the big fuzz thing either, there might be a way around it- I was thinking to do the joining ceremony here, at the Normandy, with our crew and your family on vidcom…" Garrus put one of his talons over her lips. Then he grinned.

"Did you say joining ceremony?" he sounded amused.

"I… I want to get the face tattoo and all" she said, smiling "I thought about it before I talked to them; besides, human ceremonies are boring" Garrus hugged her tight, apparently it meant a lot to him. "And a face tattoo is more permanent than a ring: I'm not letting you go Vakarian" she whispered.

"Me neither" he replied, his words a little teary. She smiled widely and dug her face in his neck.

When they came out of the main battery, the whole crew was gathered in the mess hall, all except Edi's body.

"Edi" said Shepard, mocking anger.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it" she said.

"And that's why you are not just an AI" said Joker.

"So, should we prepare something, Lola? I could bake the cake, my abuela has this amazing recipe" said James "I'm sorry the groom won't be tasting any" he joked. "Are there turian canned cakes?"

"Well, since you already know everything, we might as well start to do something before we go on our next mission" said Shepard. "The cake sounds great, thanks James"

"I took the liberty to send a message to the turian councellor, accepting his offer" said Edi

"Thanks Edi… I think" said Shepard.

"I'll go downtown, to get some buzz" said Cortez

"I have to get a couple of things, I hope I can find them" said Garrus, he was being mysterious "Hopefully some fellow turians will be able to help"

"I'll leave everything in your hands" said Shepard "I have to start preparing our next mission; Liara, I'll see you and Glyph in a minute upstairs"

Liara wasn't resting: she'd found out a new lead on the mass relay thing- and it was very close from earth: Mars.

"So back to Mars" said Shepard "Last time I was there, we were saving your ass Liara" she joked.

"And we got the crucible's plans too, which I had found by the way" she said, faking offense.

"Are there scientists there?" asked shepard

"Yes, in a disclosed location" said Liara "I had a hard time finding them, even as the shadow broker, so I think they're safe for now… but we have to get there before they aren't- If Edi or Glyph find out something's going on, we'll have to move fast"

"Mid tattoo in the face fast?" she said

"You've done enough for everyone" said Liara "Your wedding… ehm, joining is priority today- speaking of which, I've got some advertising to take care of- I promise it won't be invasive, I'll have Glyph taking pictures for the media; I told the councellors broadcasting it live could be dangerous, like putting a sign saying: attack us now"

"Nicely thought, Liara" she said.

"Now, take a shower, rest a little" said Liara "Leave everything to us"

Shepard was nervous; she didn't remember being that nervous even when she was at the top of the crucible, maybe because it was a different kind of nervous: she was blissful. She couldn't wait to get those tattoos that said: yes, I'm with that turian. She wanted to really be with him; making things official meant he was really hers and she was his, and none could say otherwise. It felt good to know she would officially have a family of her own, even if it already felt like that. Oh Shepard, you've gone all soft and mushy- she said to herself as she looked at her bare face in the mirror; a face that would soon be covered in blue strikes.

She wondered what Garrus was up to, she really wanted to see him. But it was a turian costume to be apart until the joining; she wondered what to wear, she was lingering in a towel and as comfortable as it was, she didn't think she could go there wearing just that. Maybe her official garments? She didn't have much of a choice really, it was either that, her armour, her pyjamas or a towel. Edi's voice talked on speaker:

"Shepard, Garrus left a present for you outside your cabin" she said "You may come out now, he's already at the elevator"

"Thanks Edi"

There was a square white box with a big white bow in it. "Please, don't be a white wedding gown" she said as she walked in and put the box in her desk. She opened it carefully; inside, she found something as blue as Garrus' eyes. It was a beautiful dress, and it fit her perfectly- it wasn't big and fluffy, it was beautiful and utilitarian- very turian-like. It matched her ring as well. "I just hope the dress isn't made of blood too" she said aloud, smiling.

There was a card in the bottom of the box; it wasn't Garrus' handwriting, mostly because he couldn't speak, read or write her own language- but it was a message from him. "This is Garrus Vakarian, and you're my favourite person in the galaxy"

It felt like an eternity until Edi called and said everything was ready; they would hold the ceremony in the mess hall, and they were waiting for her. She checked herself once again in the mirror of the elevator- the last time she would be completely barefaced, and she couldn't wait to get those tattoos.

There was a black curtain closing the view from the elevator door- she saw they were building expectation, would Garrus be at the other side?. A turian hand opened the curtain : it was Garrus. He was dressed in formal attire, he looked handsome- not that he didn't look good before. He looked at her tenderly, he was pleased.

"Spirits, you look breath-taking" he whispered in her ear. She nearly melted; his voice had that effect on her, especially if his words were meant only for her. "I wonder where you got that dress, you've got great taste Shepard" he joked.

"A handsome turian left it at my door, I wish I could thank him" she said, smirking.

"You'll have plenty of time for that later" he put his hand around her waist and walked her to the arch where the councillor was waiting for them.

Everyone looked fancy, she didn't recall seeing any of them like that before- even James looked like a gentleman, go figure. The mess hall was unrecognizable too.

"I want all of this clean by the morning" Said Shepard, raising an eyebrow.

"I said it was a waste of resources" said Javik "Unacceptable" Liara put her hand over his mouth.

"Please start, don't mind us" said Liara

The councillor said some boring words, and neither she nor Garrus were paying attention; they held hands, staring at each other like stupid. She mouthed "I love you", and he squeezed her hands- turians didn't have readable lips.

The councillor anointed them with a nice smelling oil while muttering something, then he laced their hands with a ribbon. Then: face tattoo time. She had to say she accepted to be marked in presence of the spirits, to be bound in flesh and soul to his mate, Garrus Vakarian. She joked "maybe you could tattoo my name in your arm"- he thought it was a good idea, and she couldn't help but laugh.

The tattoos hurt a little less than she thought, thanks to the medigel. Garrus held her hand during the process, and she joked saying she was thankful the ceremony didn't call for a blood transfusion, or they would be dead already. James showed everyone his N7 tattoo, and Liara told the story of an ugly tattoo she got removed like a hundred years ago. The tattooist, a bulked turian with a red tattoo across his face, told her to stop laughing or he would miss and make her look like someone from another clan- and she really didn't want that.

Thanks to the medigel too, the tattoo was healed in a few minutes and she was able to start the party. James' cake didn't look so beautiful, but it was delicious. Garrus had a strange cake made of a pile of canned food -"I did what I could" said James- and Glyph would walk around taking pictures and making sure everyone was fine.

They had a great time, the best time since the "we defeated the rippers" party, right after she was released from the hospital.

When everyone was so drunk they didn't pay attention to them, Garrus and Shepard sneaked to her cabin to do a little celebrating of their own. He insisted on carrying her all the way up there, he saw it on a vid.

"You tattooed your face for me, It's only fair I carry you up to the cabin" he joked.

"You'll pay for this, Vakarian" she joked.

He left her over the bed, and laid next to her. Then he traced her tattoos with one of his talons. They tickled a little, but then she realized her whole body tickled too. She pressed herself against Garrus, she never wanted to let go. He started kissing the tattoos, then went down to her neck- she tried to undo his buttons, but ended up tearing them off.

"Sorry" she said laughing

"Oh, don't worry- your dress might have a worse fate" he joked, his voice low and deep against her ear. She heard it tearing apart: so much for the dress, but she couldn't think of another day she might wear it again- it wasn't exactly comfortable to fight with.

Edi didn't bother to wake them up the next morning; instead she cleaned up the mess, made breakfast and left a couple of trays outside her cabin. She managed to find real turian food on a can, leftover from one of the turian ships in the war- Garrus was beside himself, she thought she saw him doing a little dance.

She took a sip of coffee, and startled herself with the reflection.

"Getting used to them still?" said Garrus, jumping into the bed

"It will take a while" she said "But I think I'm already used to waking up with a turian next to me, and I love it"

"Consider me blushed" he said. They were going to kiss, when Edi's voice interrupted.

"I hope I'm not interrupting" she said "the sensors detected movement and I didn't want to disturb you by looking, I hope you're enjoying breakfast"

"We are, thanks Edi" said Shepard

"When you are ready, Liara suggests we ship off to Mars" said Edi. Shepard called Joker by omnitool.

"Joker, set destination to Mars" she said

"Aye commander" he said

"I hope you are alright to drive" she said, half joking.

"I'm fine, Edi kept controlling the alcohol in my blood last night" he said "buzz killer!" he joked.

"Time to get moving, Garrus" she said, kicking back the covers "Back to duty"

"Just when I was starting to get used to doing nothing all day, can we go back to retirement now?" he said pulling the covers back.

"Well, I'll be in the shower if you need me" she said, playfully. That was enough to get him out of bed, and after showering he was ready to calibrate and she was prepared to be Commander Shepard- saviour of the galaxy.

Garrus couldn't keep his thoughts straight, luckily there weren't many calibrations left to do before getting to Mars. He finally sat down, and savoured the moment: he and Shepard were officially official and it was the best day of his existence- well, maybe that day after the suicide mission… when they were together for the first time. The truth is, he loved her from the moment he met her, and he felt like an idiot because he thought she would never even look at him. But she did.

He couldn't help but think about those two terrible years after she died- there was no body, and he just couldn't believe it: she had to be alive somewhere. He cried every night, and the only thing keeping him alive was the thought of maybe finding her, looking for her everywhere. Then one day he couldn't do it anymore, there is only so much fight inside a person- and he decided to let go of himself: I'll go to you, Shepard. He went to Omega, tried to do something right before going, to be worth of her wherever she was- and he wouldn't go as a coward, he would go with honour. His heart ached every time he remembered about those days.

And then, he saw her. He thought he was dreaming- again; but there she was, and he took a missile with his face to save her. When he woke up at the infirmary, he thought he had dreamed all of that- until he saw her face again, worried and holding his hand. Her face was scarred everywhere, so were her hands; he forgot his own pain, and instead worried about her- he asked her how she was, and she laughed: he'd miss her laugh so much.

He couldn't believe that had been so long ago, and that now he was hers and she was his: partners for life, spirits, she even bared his colours all over her face now- and that was hot. His father was incredulous when he told him about it through vidcom; if he'd told him something like that before the defeat of the rippers, he would've been against their union- _but_ now, Shepard wasn't just some human in his eyes and he was proud of having her in the family. In his words: "she's as honourable and disciplined as any turian, spirits! maybe she's a turian in disguise". Apparently for a human to earn his father's respect, it only took to save the world a couple of times. Not that he needed his approval, she was all that mattered to him. He would take care of her, as he always did- she was so busy taking care of others, and none took care of her. He knew how lonely she felt, but now she would never be alone again- he'd make sure of that.

Shepard called him through omnitool- they were ready to go, and she needed him in the shuttle bay, full gear on. His mandibles flickered, he was ready for action- he loved fighting next to her, it bonded them even more- _but_ maybe not as much as their personal reach and flexibility sessions. That was beyond bonding- Spirits, Vakarian, keep it together! The told himself. There would be time to, ehm, bond later.

His mind wondered a lot, and he couldn't help it- yes, he had to help it if he was going to be of any use to Shepard down there- down there in Mars, spirits! He couldn't even scold himself for wandering without wander to other things. He'd put his chest plate wrong "well done, Vakarian" he said chuckling, as he walked to the elevator. Liara run to hold it, while yelling something to glyph.

"Garrus, your visor is crooked" said Liara, as she checked something in her omnitool

"I think my mind is still somewhere else" he said, laughing. "I'm sorry, too much information"

"Not until you implied it was too much information, now it's awkward" she said "you two better keep it together during the mission"

"You are starting to sound like Javik" he joked

"Sorry, I'm under a lot of pressure here" she replied, apologetic.

Shepard was adjusting her armour, and checking for upgrades with Cortez- damn, if he wasn't gay he would be jealous of them, they spent a lot of time together sometimes. James wanted to come along with them, but Shepard told him they needed someone to guard their backs. He was a nice kid, with too much energy to spend- he thought.

She looked really beautiful with the blue lines in her face; matched with her armour they looked intimidating. She grinned at him when she saw him, he stroked a little pose as she bit her lip and nodded lightly. Liara was too busy checking stuff, so she didn't notice- or pretended not to. It was nice to be given some privacy. He approached Shepard, and kissed her lightly on the lips; she caressed him on the fringe: that made him melt. But focus, Vakarian- he thought. Cortez started the shuttle, and made them get in- Liara sat shotgun, and they went in the back; he couldn't help but to hold Shepard's hand tight.

Liara lead Cortez to the location, and he dropped them over the landing area. It was a peaceful Martian day, only a couple of storms in the horizon, he thought. There were no containers in sight, or a path.

"Are you sure we´re in the right place, Liara?" Asked Garrus

"It's an underground facility" said Liara "there must be a hatch somewhere"

He checked with his visor, and found it in no time. He led them to it, and opened with his omnitool.

"Ladies first" he said

"Always a gentleman, Vakarian" said Shepard, laughing. There was nothing in the other side, he made sure to check before he opened the hatch.

"Clear!" she said when she was already down. Then liara went down, and then he did- making sure he closed the hatch behind him, he didn't want Cerberus to walk behind their backs.

"Can you believe we beat the reapers, but Cerberus is still alive and kicking?" Said Garrus as they walked down the narrow corridor.

"We'll get them" said Shepard "And then, something else will come along- it always does"

"This way" said Liara, getting ahead of them.

"Its awful quiet" said Shepard "keep your guns ready, something's not right"

Shepard opened the door with her omnitool, and Garrus was ready to shoot whatever was hiding behind the desks- always a step ahead thanks to his reliable visor.

Two salarians, a human and an asari came out of hiding, hands in the air. They were scared.

"Please don't kill us" said one of the salarians.

"What's going on here?" Asked Shepard, lowering her gun down.

"We sensed you coming, we thought you were the mercenaries that had been looking for the lab the last couple of days" said the asari. "They were getting closer, and we couldn't risk calling for help, we cut all communications that could give us away" she looked closely at Shepard's face, then at his- she noticed the tattoos, but said nothing. "Are you Dr. T'soni? We were expecting you"

Garrus looked around while Liara and the other asari talked, and Shepard listened- clearly bored out of her mind. He tried not to break anything with his clumsy talons, there were lots of delicate things in that office- he decided to explore the rest of the facility.

Shepard called him via omnitool, they were leaving- and taking the scientists with them. The shuttle was going to be crowded, he thought.

Back in the Normandy, Shepard told him they had a lot of important research to finish- and the only place they would be safe would be aboard the Normandy. They took everything with them, and placed it in life support and in engineering.

"Could we use your quarters too?" she asked him "It's not like you're using them"

That grin in her face made him say yes to anything; besides, she had a better shower in her cabin, and he could get used to it.

"We need to get rid of the Cerberus mercenaries on mars" she said "we'll grab a bite and then back to that dusty old planet"

"I'd rather do some, ehm… calibrations" he said, grabbing her by the waist; she looked confused "upstairs?" he clarified.

"Oh, we can't go upstairs" she said, without pulling him away "Liara seems a little cranky, she's really invested on this mission and she'll kill us if she see us running away to… calibrate- but we are at the main battery, aren't we?" He saw where she was going, and clenched his mandibles; very resourceful.

"Perfect place to calibrate" he said, pressing her against the gun computer.

They were lucky nobody walked in on them; _but, _people never even thought about walking in on him while doing real calibrations- the main battery was off limits to all, except Shepard. They came out to eat something fast, and then gathered the crew to get rid of those Cerberus bastards. James and Garrus were in for the job, Liara stayed helping with the research.

Shepard sat shotgun that time, and he had to fight the urge of running his talons through her hair from behind. Turians really enjoyed being with their bond mates all the time; it was a turian thing that might be a little unsettling amongst humans- clingy, was the word they used.

It didn't take them long to find them: they were as quiet as a krogan dancing, and very noticeable as well. They had set a big camp. Shepard signalled him to take down the guards with his sniper abilities while she approached and hacked the doors. They fell quick, without noise, and before anyone noticed they were already inside and shooting anything that moved.

There were xenophobic flyers everywhere, and a picture of Shepard and him was hanging on the shooting court. He took it down before Shepard could see it, he knew seeing it would hurt her. Cerberus flags were all over the place, and xenophobic propaganda was playing in some of the holographic stations. Shepard was fighting her tears, he could notice- he took her hand and drove her away from there.

"Maybe we should make this place disappear" he told her, squeezing tight. James was collecting guns and useful things to take back.

"We'll make sure it burns to the ground" she said, her voice filled with bitterness. She called Joker on omnitool "As soon as we get back, bomb this place to hell"

"Aye commander" he responded.

Later at her cabin, she stood for a long time watching her fish- quiet. He didn't know if he should say something, she looked like she was thinking- here eyebrows together formed little frown lines on her forehead, her lips were a thin line. He was getting nervous, he needed to comfort her; he decided to stand up from the sofa and hug her softly from behind. She grabbed his talons and kissed his hands, still looking at the fish tank; he took a glance of her in the glass, she was smiling a little. He sighed, and relaxed.

"I can't believe what's happening" she said, while her sight traced the path of a yellow looking fish. "When Liara told us about it, and even when the council told me about it… it seemed so… distant, impossible" she turned around, and buried her face in his shoulder. She was so vulnerable, so broken inside- and he was the only one who knew that side of her. He hugged her tight. "They are worse than the reapers and the collectors" she said, her voice weakened by trying to hold back her tears "Remind me again why we saved them?"

"They are not a lot of people, they're just very noisy" he whispered to her, half joking "And we'll make them stop making noise; they are thugs, and do I have to remind you that your bond mate is Archangel? I've got some training on getting rid of thugs" he kissed her.

"I've been thinking about what Javik said; when this is over, what are they going to fight about?" she seemed a little better, her mood was lightening.

"Probably turian canned food" he joked, seeing an opportunity to make her laugh. She did laugh, and he was very satisfied.

Shepard woke up feeling warm inside, loved. Garrus caressed her hair until she fell asleep, and then tucked her in. He was still sleeping, over the covers, and he was shaking. She smiled, and covered him with a blanket- turians: so sensitive to cold. She took a shower, got dressed and placed a little note next to Garrus' head "I love you, Garrus Vakarian- now, get your ass into the shower, we have a lot of work to do".

She met Liara in her quarters, she was already busy. Javik was helping her to do some translations while glyph floated around the room getting stuff done.

"News, Liara?" she asked

"I've got some unsettling news from earth" she said. Bad news, always bad news.

"Hit me" she said.

"Take a look" she said, pointing at her multiple screens. Now, that was really bad- she thought. A volus woke up to find his business had been torched, an asari-human family home was all covered in offensive graffiti. And there was a manifestation against human-alien marriage- like Garrus said, not many of them but really noisy.

"Wow" that was all she managed to say.

"At least, it's a minority" said Liara "Most people think they're crazy, they have nearly no support- but they're strong anyways, and people are scared" she turned off the monitors. "You and Garrus are the fighting flag of all good people, they admire you Shepard" she said "Thanks to you they know they can fight back"

"So the council was right" said Shepard "I'm glad we were able to help" she felt a shiver down her spine. "Where do we go next? Is there something else we need to find?

"Not far from the scientist's camp, we need to go back to the digging site" she said "According to these encryptions, there is a piece of the puzzle down there" she said "And that piece might lead us to others; back in my system, the asari have found several pieces already- we assume there are pieces in every planet of every system"

"That's a lot of planets" said Shepard, joking half-heartedly

"The Krogan are having a hard time, they are not big on scientific explorations; neither are the elcor, or the volus" Said Liara, checking her omnitool "So we are thinking about assembling teams of asari to ship off to distant systems- it takes years to go to some of them, that's why humans or turians are out"

"Nice to know" she said. "Alert me when you're ready to go to the digging site, I'll be around"

It was hell to wait for news, she wanted to go out there and kick some Cerberus ass- but right then she was more helpful as an image than as a fighter, she and Garrus.

She couldn't believe how much she loved that turian, and how hard it was to tell him she was interested; she saw Tali trying to get his attention, and she was the most jealous she ever was in her entire life. She found herself wanting to throw her out of the ship- literally and figuratively speaking- but she was her friend and if she knew she loved Garrus, she would've stopped- but none knew. She didn't want Garrus to break her heart, but hell, it was worse to think about Tali getting her way and having to live with those murderous feelings against her. So one day she decided to walk by the main battery, to "chat"- she didn't know how to say it "hey Garrus, I think I love you… meet me at my cabin?" no, that was way too forward and Garrus was a little shy. But opportunity stroke, and she sought the chance of misunderstanding –on purpose- what Garrus meant with a couple of things, and soon they were talking about testing their reach and flexibility together. Of course Edi had always been a big gossip- mainly thanks to Joker, he had a way of getting her to talk- and she told Mordin about it; then the whole crew knew about it, including Tali- and that was what she wanted, because she didn't break her heart and nobody got hurt. She felt the urge of saying "now stay away, you weak masked bitch", but that wasn't very nice or very paragon of her- inside, Commander Shepard was just a girl. She felt a little guilty when Tali died, like she brought it to her just by thinking about it- and she still did. Sometimes she found herself looking at the plate with her name "Tali Zorah vas Normandy", telling her she was sorry. She often wondered if Garrus had felt something for her, if things would have gone differently- but she never dared to ask, she really didn't want to know; a faint pain in her chest formed every time she thought about it. And there she was again, looking at the name plate. "Stupid Tali" she whispered.

Garrus pinched her butt from behind, and she jumped- ready to apply a heavy blow on whoever did it. Then she saw it was him, and she kicked him lightly on the groin- playing- and Garrus pretended to fall and roll in pain. He never ceased to amuse her, just when she thought she'd seen all his tricks.

"Get up, someone will see you" she said, faking anger.

"I think I need medigel- spirits, did you just kill our children?" he said, mocking pain.

"Ok, I'll leave you here to die then- do you want your name plate in golden or silver?" she said.

"Maybe on thulium, to honour me" he said, pulling her down. She fell over him, and his armour made a big noise. They laughed, and sat down with their backs on the wall. He put his arm around her. "I noticed you were looking at the name plates, everything Ok Shepard? I wanted to make you feel better, and it worked for a while" he said "Spirits, I'm so bad at cheering you up, now you look upset again"

"It's ok Garrus, I'm always cheered when you are around" she kissed his scared jaw. "It's just that, at moments like this I wish I'd save more of them- they deserved to live, unlike others who remain alive"

"I take it you spoke to Liara? I saw the news from earth while I was getting dressed- by the way, we don't get TVs down here" he said "abuse of power?"

"You need to kill the reapers to get a Tv" she said, joking.

"And, who needs a tv when you have me anyways? I feel a little offended"

"I'll get rid of it, then" she said

"Ok, you may keep it" he said, then he kissed her.

"I was remembering that time we discussed reach and flexibility" she told him, she felt like sharing suddenly.

"It was a little awkward, if you ask me" he said "I… I had been thinking about you for a while, and then you came and, well, I didn't know if you were mocking me or if you were being serious" he sighed, looking shy "I'm glad you were serious, or else I would've made a fool of myself"

"And there I was thinking I was the one being mocked, making a fool of myself" she said, grinning.

"I was afraid you could break my heart" he said, looking at her with those icy blue eyes. "Turians fall really hard in love, and that was new for me. Once we find love, we never let go- humans fall in and out all the time, I wanted us to be all right- I wanted to be really sure that you felt the same."

"Garrus…" she whispered "Same here; I'm so glad we found each other, and I'm glad we got to chat that day"

"Aaand, I'm also glad about what came next- except the part where you were arrested, I was in hell, waiting for them to release you… to see you again"

"I missed you every single day" she said "I was going crazy, they wouldn't let me mail you- so… I kept a diary, filled with letters for you" there it was, her best kept secret out in the open. She was ashamed of those letters, so touchy feely- if anyone but Garrus saw it, she'd have to kill them.

"And where is it? Why am I only hearing from it now? I really want to read those" he said, his eyes wide.

"It's on earth" she said "In a vault, under many locks- it's really embarrassing" she said, blushing. "It's only meant for your eyes Garrus, I can't risk Edi or anyone spying on you while you read it- besides, what if you make fun of me then?"

"You know I would never make fun of you" he said- she gave him a crooked smile "I stand corrected: I would never make fun of your feelings"

"If you do, you are dead Vakarian" she said, standing up.

Liara walked by the mess hall, she had news. More news- she was starting to miss being retired, lounging all day in her pyjamas, talking to Garrus, and no worries in the world. It was boring, but at least it was quiet.

"Shepard, we need to go back to earth" said Liara "There are leads on the mercenaries, I sent the info to your omnitool- I'll be in my quarters"

"Thanks Liara, I'll check it" said Shepard.

Shepard walked Garrus to the main battery, he had calibrations to do and she had a plan to make. In her cabin, she took a look to the omnitool- there was a lead on the whereabouts of one of the founders of the new Cerberus. Also, a lead on infiltrated scientists who were trying to sabotage the mass relay investigations. "I guess infiltrated first" she thought. She wanted to know who the others were; if nobody knew who they were… maybe they were even more powerful, and they had to go first. This time she'd have to take prisoners, and that made a hell of a difficult mission. There were also infiltrates in the alliance… was she reading right? One of the chatty women who guarded the war room's door during the reaper war? She hated them, always gossiping like she wasn't even there; one of them hated aliens and now she was doing something about it. She was second on her list, right after chasing those scientists. She gave the itinerary to Joker, and he took care of the rest.

The first stop was at a tropical location, on an island somewhere near the Antilles. She, Garrus and James went down in one shuttle, Liara in another.

"Don't ever say I never take you anywhere nice" joked Shepard

"At least, warm weather" sighed Garrus "Why is everywhere we go so terribly cold?"

"You're an old lady, Vakarian" said James, punching him in the arm.

"Ok, here's the plan" said Shepard "Liara will go first; if we do, we'll raise the alarm- she's got a contact inside, so she'll let us in through the back door. Stay low until I get the signal"

She got the signal, and led them in through the door; the contact was an asari with weird pink strikes all over her face, she looked like a zebra.

She briefed them in, so they knew where to find the scientists they were after; it wasn't easy to find their way around the facility, it looked like a labyrinth- all white and shiny. Garrus' visor turned out to be very helpful, he could tell where the scientists were- what else can that thing do? She thought- no wonder he never takes it off.

They took them to the Normandy as quietly as they could- screaming and kicking. The whole facility found out what was going on, and they were outraged- soon, they had to protect their prisoners, but only so they could take some information out of them later. They insulted her and Garrus, calling her a traitor to humanity- yeah, she'd heard that before, was it the illusive man who said that? It wasn't worth to remember. James hit one of them hard in the face, and she was grateful she didn't have to do it herself- she might have killed the guy.

She let Edi and James to guard the scientists in the basement of the engineering room, she just couldn't do it- she didn't even want to look at them. She couldn't wait to get to the Alliance headquarters, to hand them over and learn something new.

She borrowed James' punching bag, and hit it until her knuckles were raw- then she kicked it until her legs were sore. Garrus went down to the shuttle bay, he got her a bottle of iced water and some anti-inflammatory cream- he was just to perfect, she thought: he always knew what to do to make her feel better, even if he thought he was clueless. He offered to apply the cream, and she didn't say no to that- Garrus was very talented with his talons, he undid every knot and relieved every sore muscle. When he was finished she was so relaxed she couldn't move, so he carried her up to her cabin- no complaints there either.

Back in the Capital, she and Garrus went for a walk while the prisoners were being questioned on C-sec; they couldn't stay for long, they had to look for those infiltrates in the Alliance too. As they strolled down the streets, people said hello to them and wanted to take their picture- it had been a long time since those celebrity days, right after defeating the reapers, with time people forgot about her. Now, she and Garrus were a hot topic everywhere- they were used to free meals and good seats, but now it was ridiculous. She remembered when she got discounts on the citadel for saying "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favourite spot on the citadel"- now people were fighting to get her to say that, but she really didn't need discounts anymore.

A reporter stopped them, she wanted to know what they were working on- people didn't really know the truth and she couldn't tell them. She sent Garrus away, to get her an ice cream – turians had the very bad habit of telling the truth all the time, right then it wasn't a useful skill. She said they were working very hard to help rebuild the mass relays, so people could reunite with their families stranded all over the galaxy- not only Aliens were stranded here, there were lots of humans lost in strange worlds. She hoped with that last statement to raise awareness of the importance of bringing back the relays in the minds of the extremists; maybe the promise of aliens getting away from earth would keep them from hurting them. She didn't mention their fight against extremists: that would only make them angrier and terrible. Garrus came back with a strange looking ice cream and a dark chocolate ice cream; the reporter asked him about their marriage- bonding or mating, she insisted- he answered candidly, joking a little. She asked whether the tattoos hurt her, to which she replied: I died once and nearly died another time, my pain barrier is a lot higher than it used to be.

When she asked about babies, she replied she wished someone came up with an idea to make that happen for them- half joking, because she'd really like that and so did he.

When the reporter went away, they spent a long time talking about how would a human-turian baby look like; Garrus thought maybe it would look like a human, only with a couple of plates here and there- they decided to make a bet, they hoped they would know soon enough.

After a while, she got a call saying she was cleared to go to go to the Alliance headquarters, and take down the infiltrates. The party was on, she thought- and she would take Garrus and Liara with her, just to mess with those idiots. She would also kiss Garrus in front of all of them, and have Edi check for reactions- that would narrow the search down.

Shepard arranged for her to have a "surprise speech", a pep talk for all the alliance soldiers. She told them not to mention Garrus or Liara to the soldiers. Her heart was pounding hard, she wanted to laugh and it was tough to keep a poker face.

She talked for a while, answered questions about the reapers and the collectors… and then she called Garrus and Liara to stage. Both of them talked a little, and then she kissed Garrus firmly- tongue included. Some of them were openly disturbed- her face tattoo had an impact on them too, but the kiss sealed the deal. Edi targeted all the ones who had bad reactions, and soon they were called for interrogation.

Garrus was full of himself, all cocky, afterwards- they got them thanks to him. Shepard let him have it, she loved to see him so happy. Liara was all business, and she excused herself from there to go to the Normandy immediately afterwards.

There were up to fifty infiltrates, of the two hundred- and that was a big number. They weren't cooperating much, it would take days to make them talk. She needed that to be a lot faster.

Garrus thought about taking a time off the Normandy: Liara was being bossy even to the commander, and everyone else was gossiping about him and Shepard- especially Edi, who wouldn't leave them alone, he felt watched all the time. He pulled some strings- "hey, I'm Archangel, and my bond mate is Commander Shepard" – and he got them the presidential suite at the best hotel on the Capital. It was a whole floor at the top of the building, the best view in the Capital. A bottle of asari wine- mild to his stomach- turian and human snacks, a hot tub and the biggest bed he'd ever seen. He told Shepard to pack light, and before she could ask him where he was taking her he told her not to ask- he would be compelled to answer and it was a surprise. They could, and needed a break from everything –especially before the hard part: chasing the real bad guys. Spirits, he really wished they were still retired- but, if they were retired they would be whining because it was boring.

Shepard couldn't keep her eyes closed, but at least he got her to not ask all the way up to the room. He opened the door, and she looked very pleased- she checked every inch of the room, an old habit: checking for escape points, hiding spots and stuff she could use as a weapon. He knew, because he had done exactly the same.

They ate ice cream in their pyjamas, laughed, rolled on the floor, kissed, had a tickle contest- he always won, even though she knew where his ticklish spots were. He smiled, Shep always tried to let him win. They ended up tangled under the covers, exhausted, happy. A shiver went down his spine- it felt too good, just as good as that time before attacking the illusive man, when they thought they might die. He shook the feeling away, and traced a line in her back with his talons; her skin went up in goose bumps, and she moaned like she always did when she was happy. He held her tight and whispered "I love you" in her ear; she giggled and turned back to kiss him. Then she snuggled under his chin and fell fast asleep.

He was dozing off when he heard a noise that alerted him; he froze in his position, holding Shepard tight to protect her instinctively. He searched the room with his eyes, trying to find the source of the noise he heard. He heard a noise again, and saw a red dot on the wall. "Snipers" he thought. He tried to wake Shepard up, but she didn't move- she was breathing. He moved fast, turned the bed up and headed for the door with Shepard in his arms. That alerted the snipers, whom started to shoot randomly at the room, shattering the windows. He barely made it out of the room, and headed for the stairs with her in his arms- he didn't care or realize they were naked running down the hall. He called the Normandy with his visor, asking for backup and some insight on what was going on- Cortez took off in a shuttle to get them, and Vega went with the weapons. He could hear the mercenaries running behind them, luckily he was a lot faster- even with Shepard in his arms. They were on the last floor, it was a long way down. Cortez talked to him and asked him where they were, "uhm, eight floor" he replied. Cortez told him to find cover, and a big hole appeared on the wall. "Hop in" yelled Vega, and they took off. Well, that would be one expensive hotel bill- he thought, looking at the hole in the distance. Then he checked on Shepard, she was unharmed but strangely unconscious- had she tasted his ice cream? Was this an allergic reaction? Spirits, they had to get to the med bay soon.

Vega offered him blankets "turians are even uglier when naked" he said. He didn't have the strength to think of a snappy comeback, he just made sure Shepard was covered and warm in his arms- he kissed her forehead and run his talons through her hair, worried.

The crew didn't know what had happened exactly, but it obviously had something to do with Cerberus. Liara was trying to find out whatever she could, while dr Shakwas treated Shepard. He was losing it, walking up and down the mess hall, waiting for Shakwas to say something, sneaking peaks to the med bay. Shepard was still asleep there.

"She was doped with sleep inducers, valium I suppose" said Shakwas, as she went outside. "She'll be fine"

"I want to take her to her cabin, she doesn't like the med bay" he said "no offense to the med bay, it happens when you die and come back in a Cerberus lab" he tried to joke.

"First, I'd like to know where you ate last night" said the dr. "She obviously didn't ingest it on her own"

"Hotel food, ice cream to be exact" he said "Spirits, Cerberus is everywhere" he sighed.

"I'd like to test your blood, maybe they put it in yours too" she said "turians are not affected by it, but you might feel a little sick later"

As soon as she got his blood sample, he took Shepard to her cabin. He put her a shirt and tucked her in, then kissed her on the forehead, the nose and her chin. She looked so vulnerable, so small. Then he remembered he was still wrapped in a blanket, and he laughed a little- the whole crew had seen him naked. He kept most of his clothes in her cabin, so he took a shirt and a pair of pants. Then he sat on the couch, waiting for her to wake up and for news from Liara and Chakwas.

Liara went up eventually. She said what he had been thinking: Cerberus. They were trying to kill Shepard, because they knew she could make things better again. He couldn't help but smile a little bit when he remembered the last time someone tried to kill Shep- her clone had hired mercs to get rid of her, it still seemed like a weird dream. He sat next to her, holding her hand.


End file.
